Haulover Update

One of the entrances into the CO section of Haulover Beach

I had to take my wife down to the Miami International Airport yesterday and on the way back I stopped in to see what's become of Haulover Beach.  It's been many years since I've been down there.  You have to understand that South Florida is an entirely different planet than Central Florida where I live is.  I intentionally don't go down that far south very often.  Too many people, too much traffic, too much crime.  The last time I returned back through Miami's airport late at night, I walked into a heavily armed drug buy at a convenience store trying to get a receipt for a gas purchase.  Let's just say they were not happy to see me :(

Haulover has matured very nicely.  I suspect that the CO section is even larger than it used to be. Excellent signage, including reminders as one nears the dunes along the line that that this is a public beach and that any sexual activity will be dealt with harshly.  Thanks nasty guys for making that even necessary to have to say.

The gaudy temporary orange snow fence of long ago is gone.  Instead, there's just thin short unobtrusive, permanent, almost transparent fence that just reminds you where the very large CO section begins and ends (with signs in both directions on both sides of each cut in the fence).  They have very large lifeguard stations ("towers") every few hundred feet.  Interestingly the ones in the CO section are pink.  The clothing required section towers are yellow.

In other words, clothing optional use of Haulover is there to stay!  Note the welcome sign on the left picture above from the South Florida Free Beaches organization.  You're not going to see anything like that or like Haulover anywhere else in the US.  Good parking ($6) right off A1A and it's a short walk to local high rises and hotels.  Just like any other highly used, well loved, urban beach.

I didn't stay long.  It was a weekday, so at least the beach wasn't packed.  I can only image what it's going to be like this Memorial Day weekend.  It's a monster huge beach, but millions of people live within a short drive of it.  But yesterday the surf was rough, it was mostly cloudy with your typical South Florida sprinkles on and off, and there was a strong sea breeze that left everything coated with salt.  Next time I'll bring and put my clothes in a plastic bag and use the clothing optional showers before getting dressed and leaving the CO section.

If you have any reason to visit the Miami area, go up A1A a few miles up from South Beach and visit.  You'll be very glad that you did.  Thank you South Florida Free Beaches for all the work you've done there!  It wouldn't have happened without them.

Beach Review: Blind Creek Beach (Florida)

My weekends have been pretty busy and I haven't had much chance to visit any nude beaches or clubs for several months.  Last month for my birthday, my wife suggested that we spend the day at Haulover Beach (a very nice clothing optional beach near Miami).  But Haulover makes for a long day trip from here.  Other things came up, so we visited one of the wonderful spring state parks in the middle of the state instead (highly recommended, albeit a clothed venue).

The wife's out of town for a couple of weeks on a road trip with her sister, so today I thought I'd check out a new beach I recently read about that's a lot closer to home (not wanting to disappoint her if it turns out not to have much nude use, or is too sketchy).  Blind Creek Beach is a county run beach on the Atlantic Ocean, near Fort Pierce, Florida, about half way down the east coast of the state.  It's only been in use for a couple of years, but boy was I impressed!

I'll let the Treasure Coast Naturists tell the story of their role in making it possible.  Kudos to them!

Driving down from the north around 11 AM, I passed the north parking lot which they recommended only as an overflow lot.  The clothing optional section is between the north and south lots, and they said most of the nude use would be near the south end.  The north lot had quite a few cars, but I figured the textile locals where probably using that end and it would be a long walk south before running into people using the beach nude.  North of the beach is expensive condos and subdivisions with fancy public beaches nearby.  All the more reason to head for the south lot.

The south lot was pretty full, which dashed my hopes that there would be any nude use there.  It's a primitive beach, but the county had done a good job of making it acceptable.  I expected only to find a few people after your typical long walk up or down from the beach access trail.  But nooo...  At the end of the trail there were nude people everywhere as far as one could see in both directions, including right at the end of the access trail.  No one even bothered to post a "Beyond this point you may encounter nude bathers" sign (one was posted on the access trail later in the day).  For that matter, no one had bothered to take the option and was clothed except to walk to or from the parking lot.  So exactly who was there who needed to be warned?

It was sunny, warm (low 80's), and was forecast was for it to stay that way.  I found a nice spot not too far from the access trail.  From the deep tans everywhere and the relaxed atmosphere, it was obvious that the beach had matured nicely.  That said, a couple of things were a bit too cavalier.  I walked far to the south and people there were walking into the active nuclear power plant's property.  Yeah, the state owns up to the high water mark and the nude walkers seem to be respecting that.  But I suspect that security there would be touchy about it.

Likewise, instead of people staying south of the north entrance, they had spread well to the north as far as you could see, which was supposed to be "clothing required" territory.  Nobody seemed to care, including people walking in from either entrance with their families.  They joined in as if everyone in the area knew what the deal was.  Two big thumbs up!

I made some small talk with a few people near my spot.  But like most of the nude beaches I've been to here in the US, most people tended to keep to themselves.  Which is a shame.  Also, while the Treasure Coast Naturists sponsored a couple of potta-potties, which wouldn't have been there otherwise, they didn't have an obvious presence to disseminate information, tell others about upcoming events, or to collect donations for their expenses.  Hopefully more people will join and help.